Clanking front passenger side - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

jmann.arch · #1 07-16-2011, 08:54 PM

Friends -

I need some help determining a clanking sound coming from the right front of my '87 300 TD. I have some sort of clanking, like a part is moving around near the right front tire. I thought it might be something with the suspension, as I am currently visiting family up in the NYC/NJ area and the suspension has been really challenged by the local roads - or at least the expansion joints in them. I replaced the front shocks last year, and hadn't had any problems till now.

I put the right front up on the jack and checked out under the car and am finding nothing. I pushed around on the tire and it gives a little, but not a lot. I had thought possibly it was wheel bearings getting worse - but they don't seem that bad. I thought possibly something with the breaks - but nothing in there around this tire seems loose.This clanking is almost like something is moving back and forth and hitting metal - but I haven't come up with dip yet. It is intermittent, not uniform.

Any suggestions for something I should check into?

layback40 · #2 07-16-2011, 09:58 PM

Hey Jimmy,
I had a clanging noise on my 124 TD .
It turned out to be one of the anti roll bar mounts.
A loose lower ball joint will also make noises. To check it you need to jack & then lower the car onto a block that is under the LCA where the spring is. That takes the load off it so that any movement is free to occur.
On smooth road surfaces does it drive straight, free from wondering ?
Wheel bearings dont normally just clunk. They wine away at certain speeds.

Hope that helps.

sixto · #3 07-16-2011, 10:25 PM

Maybe a spring came apart?

Sixto
87 300D

jmann.arch · #4 07-16-2011, 10:57 PM

What would clank around when the car is moving, but not move when the car is jacked up? Would a spring do that? I pulled on the spring - and I didn't see any cracks or breaks.

jmann.arch · #5 07-17-2011, 08:11 PM

I figured it out - didn't see this yesterday - but the rear bushing where the lower control arm connects to the subframe no longer has a rubber grommet in it around the bushing. I have attached a picture.

As it was original I am guessing it deteriorated and whatever was left just broke loose and fell out. Hence my clanking has started. In checking on this I also took a look at the front driver side too, and the rear rubber grommet on that one also is missing - but there must be enough material still in there so it doesn't clank yet.

Has anyone ever replaced these before? I can see there are two per lower arm. On a parts site I use they appear to sell them in packs of two - so you replace both at the same time. Given the condition of the driver side I guess I will go on and do both sides.

Any advice?

scottmcphee · #6 07-17-2011, 08:24 PM

You sure that's it? The original rear bushings do look different from the fronts. There is no rubber bulbing out one side of the rears, as it does on both sides of the fronts.

Replacements will be bulbous on both sides of each bushing, front and rear.

I don't think this is your sound.

Like someone said, check your anti-sway bar bushings, all 4 of them, 2 per side of the car.

jmann.arch · #7 07-17-2011, 08:37 PM

I jacked up the car, and checked both the front and back anti-sway bar connections, then I lowered the car and supported the lower arm at the spring, and still there wasn't anything loose.

If the rear bushing looked different without any rubber grommet extending out then I guess I am stumped at this point. The new ones I have seen online appear to look the same for both bushings (front and rear) of the front lower control arm.

I guess it is possible that one of the sway bars is loose when the suspension is in a certain position and clanks - but when I have checked it there is nothing loose.

jmann.arch · #8 07-17-2011, 08:41 PM

Keep in mind also - I mentioned this car is not typically on the types of roads I am experiencing up in the NYC/NJ area, and this suspension is getting way more than it's normal workout. I didn't have any trouble last year when I was up here - but I figured the rubber around those bushings were another year older too.....

sixto · #9 07-17-2011, 09:57 PM

There was a recent discussion on early 124 front LCA bushings -

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=301287

How about the upper strut support?

Sixto
87 300D

scottmcphee · #10 07-17-2011, 11:06 PM

2x the strut supports

These things "bottom out" (metal hits metal) from the underside when the rubber is too worn / cracked up.

jmann.arch · #11 07-17-2011, 11:29 PM

It just doesn't make that sound like that when I am bottoming out or I would think that is it - my strut bump stops are toast.

It's more like I left a big crescent wrench inside the passenger side door, but that isn't it. I can't seem to make an adjustment that automatically makes the sound, but it does seem like it happens on bumpier roads, just not necessarily in conjunction with a big bump.

sixto · #12 07-18-2011, 01:25 AM

Not the foam buffer around the strut but the bushing between the strut and the body.

Sixto
87 300D

jmann.arch · #13 07-20-2011, 12:46 PM

Okay - so I drove around yesterday, and was on some bumpy roads, but never got any sounds. So again I am kinda stuck. If a clanking sound goes away and nothing seems wrong do ya just let it go?

I "think" the other day it was lot rougher road, and the suspension had been pretty challenged for a while, and possibly the clanking was just the struts at that upper bushing.

I am gonna let this go for now.

sixto · #14 07-21-2011, 02:43 AM

Does the clanking happen if you take a turn on a bumpy road?

Sixto
87 300D